kvm: kvmclock: let KVM_GET_CLOCK return whether the master clock is in use

Userspace can read the exact value of kvmclock by reading the TSC
and fetching the timekeeping parameters out of guest memory.  This
however is brittle and not necessary anymore with KVM 4.11.  Provide
a mechanism that lets userspace know if the new KVM_GET_CLOCK
semantics are in effect, and---since we are at it---if the clock
is stable across all VCPUs.

Cc: Radim Krčmář <rkrcmar@redhat.com>
Cc: Marcelo Tosatti <mtosatti@redhat.com>
Signed-off-by: Paolo Bonzini <pbonzini@redhat.com>
Signed-off-by: Radim Krčmář <rkrcmar@redhat.com>

1 files changed, 11 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/Documentation/virtual/kvm/api.txt b/Documentation/virtual/kvm/api.txt
index 739db9ab16b2..6bbceb9a3a19 100644
--- a/Documentation/virtual/kvm/api.txt
+++ b/Documentation/virtual/kvm/api.txt
@@ -777,6 +777,17 @@ Gets the current timestamp of kvmclock as seen by the current guest. In
 conjunction with KVM_SET_CLOCK, it is used to ensure monotonicity on scenarios
 such as migration.
 
+When KVM_CAP_ADJUST_CLOCK is passed to KVM_CHECK_EXTENSION, it returns the
+set of bits that KVM can return in struct kvm_clock_data's flag member.
+
+The only flag defined now is KVM_CLOCK_TSC_STABLE.  If set, the returned
+value is the exact kvmclock value seen by all VCPUs at the instant
+when KVM_GET_CLOCK was called.  If clear, the returned value is simply
+CLOCK_MONOTONIC plus a constant offset; the offset can be modified
+with KVM_SET_CLOCK.  KVM will try to make all VCPUs follow this clock,
+but the exact value read by each VCPU could differ, because the host
+TSC is not stable.
+
 struct kvm_clock_data {
 	__u64 clock;  /* kvmclock current value */
 	__u32 flags;